


The Lost Child of the Forest

by OrphisTheDragon



Series: Time LU Oneshots (REWRITTEN) [3]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Emotional, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kokiri Forest, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Sign Language, Time (Linked Universe) Angst, Time meets his Dad again and is not happy, just one word, or - Freeform, small angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-21 22:03:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22037680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrphisTheDragon/pseuds/OrphisTheDragon
Summary: "What happened here? Has it something to do with your past?" one of them asked, but he didn't know who.He chuckled bitterly. "I haven't seen this place for years."Twilight questioned hesitantly then: ”Was this your home or something else?”The leaves whirled across the ground. There were no sounds to hear except the breathing of the heroes.This hadn't been his home for a long time.“Something else”
Relationships: Link & Deku Tree
Series: Time LU Oneshots (REWRITTEN) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1511195
Comments: 12
Kudos: 145





	The Lost Child of the Forest

The nine heroes had been roaming through a forest when they'd seen a strange path. It had been strange because it was Wild's Hyrule and he had never seen it. He'd wanted to show them something important for one of them but he'd given in to his curiosity.

Then they suddenly stood in a place full of broken down, wooden houses.  
Everything was full of ivy and the wood looked like it was rotten, like it had been abandoned for years.

Time had the feeling he knew that place, but he couldn't quite grasp why. It felt so familiar.

Wind ran to a tree stump looking house, there had been a ladder, too.  
The other eight followed him slowly.  
The Hero of Time tried to shake the sudden feeling of sadness off when he realized where they all stood.  
He froze on the spot as he read the leftover of an ancient sign.

**Link's House**

Time swore he could hear the voices of his old family.

_I'll let you keep anything that you find while_ _cutting it._

He couldn't move a muscle. Time didn't know what to do

_It's so great that you finally_ _have a fairy partner!_

“Are you ok?”  
  


The blond just stared at his old home.

_Yahoo! Hi, Link!_

He missed his old friend Saria, but he could never see her again.  
  


“Time! Snap out of it!”

_Hey you! "Mr. No Fairy!"_

He didn't have a fairy anymore. Nothing had changed.  
  


“Time! You're scaring us!  
  


Time felt suddenly a hand on his shoulders.  
He winced.  
  
The others looked at him with worry in their eyes.  
  


“Finally. We tried to get your attention for minutes.” said Legend with an unsure look.

Time really wanted to answer him but then he saw Wild trying to climb up his house.  
He snapped :”Don't touch anything here!”

The others stopped moving, too shocked because of his reaction.

Time's breathing was shallow and rapid and he didn't know why.

"What happened here? Has it something to do with your past?" one of them asked, but he didn't know who.

He chuckled bitterly. "I haven't seen this place for years."

Twilight questioned hesitantly then: ”Was this your home or something else?”

The leaves whirled across the ground. There were no sounds to hear except the breathing of the heroes.

_It's all your fault!!_

This hadn't been his home for a long time.

“Something else”

The other Links looked at each other and Wild didn't try to climb up Time's old house anymore.  
  
He told the others quietly: ”I heard a legend about this place from other travelers on my adventure.  
This place is called Kokiri Forest and it was the home of many Kokiri, the children of the forest.  
Nobody could get in if he wasn't a Kokiri but the kokiri couldn't get out either.  
The Deku Tree protected them from evil. At least that's what I heard.” Wild scratched his head nervously.  
“Is this correct?”

“Yes”, Time answered him while he still stared at his old house.

“How can we be here then?” asked Wind with big eyes.  
  
Wild interjected before Time could say something:” Yes, I never saw this place on my adventures and I was often in this forest.”

_Hello, Link! Wake up! The Great Deku Tree wants to talk to you!_

Time shudders for a moment at the memory but then realized what Wild had said. “That's the reason why we're here. Because you wanted to visit the Deku Tree, right?”

Wild just nodded dumbfounded.

“Then let's get going! We do not want to keep him waiting too long, do we?”  
  
Maybe the false happiness wasn't the best idea to go with but it was better than to have a breakdown in front of his friends.  
  
The others followed Time hesitantly not sure what to do in this situation either. They stepped over the stones in the small stream and went through the gate where Mido used to keep guard.

_If you want you pass through here, you should at least equip a sword and a shield._

Time wondered if the monsters from back then were still there. He slowly went through the passage but there weren't any monsters this time.  
  


Then he suddenly stands before the Deku Tree. He looked a little different than so many years ago when Time was still a kid with a fairy.  
The others stood behind him.

Before Time could stop himself he signed a word in his sign language, that the other Links didn't understand because no one ever bothered to learn it.  
So Time himself learned the sign language of the others.  
  
The others looked confused at him but some of them even in shock.  
Wild and Twilight clearly wanted to know what that sign meant but before they could speak up Time said: ”Long time no see, Deku Tree.”  
  
He said this with a tight-lipped smile.

_Oh... Navi... Thou hast returned..._

“Link... Thou hast returned...” said the Deku Tree to the Hero of Time.  
There was an uncomfortable silence.

Time clenched his fists as the words were spoken.

“Why did you let us in in Kokiri Forest?  
I thought you could only enter it when you're a Kokiri with a fairy. We don’t even meet either criteria.  
So what's the reason?  
Oh and please speak a different language that the others can really understand you.” Time conveyed impatiently.

_Well, as you might have already guessed, you are not a Kokiri! You are actually Hylian!_

The Deku Tree explained :“I thought that you would find comfort in my old ways to speak, Hero of Time. As for your questions.  
I granted you one last visit in your old home. The Hero of the Wild knows an another way out.”  
  
His voice was still calm like back then when he told Time about his dangerous quest.  
  


“Oh, how gracious you are. I can't believe my luck to see my old home destroyed and abandoned.  
But it wasn't my home, right? You only let me live with your children of the forest because you felt that I'm the person, who was supposed to save Hyrule.”  
  
Time didn't think that he would react with anger when he met the Deku Tree again.

Life was full of surprises.

Twilight and the others seemed to be surprised by his reaction too.

_The Deku Tree could sense that this was a child of destiny, whose fare would affect the entire world, so he took him into the forest._

Time remembered himself playing with the other Kokiri even if he hadn't had a fairy in that moment. He remembered to cherish the forest with Saria. How she played that cheerful song day in and day out.

_No... You don't have to explain it to me... Because it is destiny that you and I can't live in the same world._

“When did the Kokiri Forest become this abandoned?  
Did you even care about them? About Mido? Saria?  
Or did you just care about Hyrule and not about your so called children of the forest?” questioned Time is old father figure.  
He was shouting the questions.  
“Was my childhood a fair price for the safety of Hyrule?! The only use you had for me?! The only reason why I'm alive today?!” Time was breathing heavily.

Tears were streaming down his marked face.

Oh the Goddesses were so cruel.

“It was not in my power to question the goddess and her plans for Hyrule.” The Deku Tree explained calmly. “As for your question I cared for all of my children equally. I care for you too even when you're not my child.”

Time looked dumbfounded at the tree.

Too shocked to say something.

His anger was gone.

He stared at the ground, clenched his fists again, trying to suppress his sobs.

_You have met with a terrible fate, haven't you?_

“Do you even realize what happened after my quest to save Hyrule?  
So many horrible things and there was nobody at the time I could have talked to.  
Because I couldn't return to my home, couldn't return to you and now you pretend that you care about me?  
Because of you, I have lost my childhood, but I think I never had a chance of one.” Time smiled bitterly as he said those words.

He turned his back away from his old father figure and didn't say anything as he walked away.

The others stared unsure at the Deku Tree for a moment but then they followed the mentally oldest hero.

The Deku Tree spoke up, his voice full of regret, before they were out of the hearing range.

Twilight tried not to flinch.  
  


“Go and do not falter, my child”

__________________________________________________

“What did the sign that you made there mean, old man?”  
  


It means ‘father’, Time thought but would never tell them.  
  
Maybe it had some advantages they didn’t bother to learn his sign language.  
  
  
"Don't worry about it"


End file.
